LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Wednesday 22nd August 2007

The cats whiskers

If this is a silly season story then it is time that we re-entered the realms of serious politics. Subject of course to the piece being true, then it is time that they threw away the key on Pete Docherty. The allegation is that Docherty's adult cat – named Dinger, junkie slang for a syringe – recently had a litter of five kittens. When one of them fell ill, a worried vet tested the sick kitten and found cocaine in its bloodstream. It is suggested that the kitten ate some cocaine left lying around the house. I look forward to ...

Do not watch this movie

This is not funny. It's nearly offensive. Especially that snigger half way through. One should really label it as workplace bullying.

Don’t Labour want to work with Ken Livingstone any more?

Well, see what the job description for their London Organiser post says: To work with all relevant candidates, MPs, AMs, MSPs and MEPs in the motivation and organisation of Party members in preparation for all election campaigns. So they mention MSPs, but not London Mayor. Oops. Perhaps next time someone should remember to change the standard wording [...]

How can you tell when Ryanair is lying ?

Put simply, it's whenever they place an advert. They have been found to be making false claims that flying is quick then going by Eurotunnel and have also been criticised for making false claims about the economy of their planes. If you also see the criticism they received for another recent advertising campaign, then you'd have to question the ethics of the company. I think I'll use Easyjet.

Andrew Phillips makes citizen's arrest - of a 10-year-old

You don't want to get on the wrong side of the Lib Dem peer and former Jimmy Young Show "legal eagle" Andrew Phillips. Even if you are only 10 years old. The East Anglian Daily Times reports that the incident took place in Sudbury town centre yesterday. In Lord Phillips's own words: “I first saw the youngsters biking along the narrow path from the Borehamgate Precinct and told them that they couldn't ride there as it could be dangerous for young mums with prams. “They swore at me but it was nothing more than small change from some silly boys. ...

Prescott’s farewell party gives nod to October election

John Prescott and his wife were spotted in his favourite Chinese restaurant, Mr Chu’s on Hull’s riverfront, on Wednesday putting the finishing touches to their plans for the ex Deputy PM’s farewell bash which, apparently, is to be held there on Saturday. The fact that he is holding this now when Parliament has another two and a half years left to run surely confirms that the party’s senior figures have been tipped off that the General Election is imminent. Unless, of course, he is planning to step down himself anyway.

The tide is turning...

I have been out canvassing every night this week. We have managed to knock on almost all of the doors in the ward and now returning to those who were out when we first knocked. Had a great night last night speaking with residents about the real issues and discussing possible solutions. What is becoming quite clear is that residents of Loughton Alderton are fed up of the negative rhetoric of

A short history lesson for George Bush

George Bush, a man not know for his grasp of history, spoke today comparing Vietnam with Iraq and yet again highlighted his general ignorance of history and events. America, he claims, withdrew from Vietnam too soon. Astonishingly Bush has no concept of the fact that the US military was fully aware by about 1968 that the US was unable to achieve a military victory in Vietnam. Very few parts of Vietnam were without some kind of warfare whilst on the home front in America the majority of the US population were firmly against the Vietnam war. George Bush then goes ...

Tom McNally's appreciation of Tim Garden

Tom McNally has written an appreciation of Tim Garden for Liberal Democrat Voice: I have been in politics now for almost fifty years. During that time I have met some good men and women as well as my share of rascals. There are a select few for whom I retain a pride at having known them and from whom I continue to gain inspiration and strength. Tim Garden was one such. We are all the poorer for his passing. We are also the better for having had him with us, all be it for all too short a time.Jonathan Fryer ...

Remarkable bird, the Andalusian Blue

Exciting news from the Shropshire Star. Representatives from Aardman productions, the people behind Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run , have visited the Wernlas collection of rare poultry at Onibury on a number of occasions. They have been studying the birds for a new multi-grain Kelloggs cereal advert. Shaun Hammon, the owner of the collection, says: “The man got very excited by the Andalusian Blue because of the colours of the bird. He also looked at a Light Sussex and a Welsummer and they all appear in the advert which was aired at the weekend.”

What the F****

“You know your Conservative when Margret Thatcher rocks your boat and not Jordon.” Where the hell did that come from, what awful crevice of Ian Dale’s head told him to write that, it makes Oedipus sound....... No not quiet but very nearly. I was never a big fan of tories but I had some respect for them. Other favourites are: “When someone says "Change" you look in your wallet ......” “You attack your own leader, but freak out when the BBC do it.” “...you see Emily Maitlis's legs and all you feel is outrage.” “. . . you read Ian ...

Lord Bonkers' Diary: Wednesday

After Monday and Tuesday our Creator has placed: WednesdayWhat a worry these floods are! Today I visit Witney in Oxfordshire, where I meet the visiting leader of the Rwandan Conservative Party. A charming fellow, he feels it his duty to travel to help unfortunate people in other countries – notably those whose own elected representatives are not on hand to help. He also expresses a wish to meet “Mma Widdecombe” and I promise to put my good offices at his disposal.Incidentally, I was very worried a few weeks ago when I heard that Hebden Bridge had been affected by flooding. ...

I would like to apologise for not issuing an apology for making an earlier apology

Sorry, but I'm just not in the Conservatives' class when it comes to this apologies thing.

Tim Garden: An Appreciation

You would expect someone with the titles Marshal of the Royal Airforce, Professor, the Lord Garden to be, at the very least, a little self important if not down right pompous. I had not met Tim Garden before Charles Kennedy nominated him for a place in the House of Lords in 2004. So I was [...]

Time that fenced off area was sorted out at Redcar

This time last year Redcar was heaving with visitors enjoying the town's transformation into Dunkirk for the filming of Atonement on the sea front. This year the view that welcomes people is the fencing around the boating lake. Ian Swales, (pictured) Liberal Democrats Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Redcar has hit out at the lack of action being taken to finish the improvement work started on the site in April this year. "The lake was drained and fencing put around the area but as soon as the Council elections were over the work was put on hold. What a dismal experience ...

Frances Lawrence and Learco Chindamo - whose rights?

Learco Chindamo, the Italian-born Londoner who at the age of 15 murdered headmaster Philip Lawrence, has won a legal battle against the Home Office. Foreign prisoners are routinely deported at the end of their sentence, but Chindamo argued successfully that, having lived most of his life in Britain, he should be allowed to stay here once he's released. The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal heard that Chindamo has no links with Italy, no family there, and doesn't even speak the language - and that sending him there would be in breach of his human rights. The reaction from the inhuman right ...

Is this the naffest advert on TV today?

It's the jacket which gets me. On. Off. On. Off. Hilarious! And the hair! Bobby Charlton eat your heart out. I remember an old adage for advertisers. If you are really having enormous difficulty pleasing your client, the solution is simple. Get the client to present his own adverts. The client will never complain about something which he has done. The other thing is - he says his name is

A cold wind

As a child I remember seeing pictures of Lightnings shadowing Soviet Tu-20 "Bears". We had a cottage in Swannington in Norfolfk at the time, and were awoken most mornings by the afterburners of Lightnings from nearby RAF Coltishall. So I find the comparison between the pictures in the press today: and pictures like this of a Lightning shadowing a Bear in the 1960s, very disturbing

Conservative chaos, part 97

a. More hospital shambles. This time they’ve apologised for listing one hospital, then changed their mind and apologised for wrongly apologising. Do keep up at the back. b. James Gray (North Wiltshire MP) is facing another attempt to deselect him.

Rail, Not Air!

{eurostar.jpg} Ryanair has been barred by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) from claiming its flights from London to Brussels are cheaper and quicker than Eurostar — and a jolly good thing too! The ASA said the claim was misleading, because it ignored the time taken traveling from the city centres to the somewhat far-flung airports serving the two capitals — Stansted and Charleroi — as well as the cost involved. With typical disdain, Ryanair has declared that these details were ‘irrelevant’ and that ‘only the very rich or the very slow waste their time on Eurostar’. Eurostar, which will be even ...

Tories retract hospital apology - you couldn't make it up.

First the Tories launch an NHS campaign. Then an MP apologises over his local hospital being listed in the campaign. ... Then it is pointed out they have got two key facts about another hospital wrong. So they correct one. Then they correct the other. So they apologise to the hospital. ... So they are sitting back with egg plastered all over their face, what do they do? Well, if you are David

Judging Books By The Opposites Of Their Covers

It occurs to me that it is a little odd for a blog that is theoretically obsessed with semantics in modern politics to have failed to review the department changes that ushered in the nouveau regime. So here goes…Looking at the changes as a whole, two trends are worthy of note, the first of which is the continued rise of the extended department name. In the early days we might have felt that the

Daily indigestion?

‘The Daily Mail Diet’ is due to air on Al Gore’s digital channel ‘Current TV’ tonight. Nick Angel, a documentary film-maker and freelance journalist, has taken it upon himself to immerse his whole life into the world of The Daily Mail for 28 days, in a similar style to that of the Supersize Me documentary which consisted of a young chap solely gorging on McDonald fast food morning, noon and night.Angel described his time in the Daily Mail bubble in his Guardian commentary, “Life on Daily Mail Island” as:“A month spent reading the nation's leading mid-market newspaper [that] took me into ...

Foreign Criminals and the ECHR

So we now find out that the refusal to deport Learco Chindamo is nothing to do with the Council of Europe and the European Convention of Human Rights or indeed the 1998 Human Rights Act. Instead it relates simply to the point that in essence there is actual freedom of movement within the EU. There are points where there is no border control in the UK (I won't identify them) and generally there

Serve a liberal helping

What does Charles Kennedy like for breakfast? What does Lembit Opik do whilst watching Question Time? What has Navnit Dholakia never told his family? The answer to all these and many other questions you’ve never asked yourself are in Serve a Liberal Helping, the cookbook about to be published by Camden Liberal Democrats. Ordering details are [...]

Norman Lamb and Facebook: descent into farce

OK, this started off rather seriously - someone faking a Norman Lamb MP profile on Facebook. It then got rather bizarre when the computer used to send emails out from the linked fake Hotmail address was also used to post comments from eight different aliases to this site trying to shift the blame to UKIP, Labour [...]

Health Overview and Scrutiny

Yesterday I sat on my first O&S panel. Our Council introduced the new modernised system in May 2002 and for the next 5 years I was the Leader of the Executive and Council and so was scrutinised. Since May, when the Conservatives formed a minority Cabinet with Labour and Independent support, I have been on our development control panel but yesterday subbed for a colleague on holiday and sat on my...

Some might call them racist, but perhaps they don't like homophobes ?

Sayeeda Warsi, made a peer by David Cameron a few months ago, has claimed that the Tories in Dewbury told her they did not want her to stand again because they didn't want there to be two ethnic candidates. The implication behind her story is that she seems to be accusing Dewsbury Tories of being racist. However, perhaps given Sayeeda Warsi's avowed views on equality laws for homosexuals and her outspoken opposition to gay people having equal rights with heterosexual people, perhaps Dewsbury Conservatives simply didn't want a homophobic bigot as their candidate ?

Tories issue an apology to hospital then apologise to the press for the apology and retract the apology. Are they sorry ?

The whole Cameron relaunch couldn't have got off to a better start, if you are a Lib dem or Labour supporter.

The final set of pics from Wales

The 2nd and final batch of pics from Wales I'm putting on the blog: Penmaenmawr quarry - looing more like a crater on the moon!Me on Penmaenmawr beach with Anglesey in the background.This seagull on Llandudno pier walked about like a cloaked Count Dracula!Me at Caernarfon Castle.A flying seagull which I managed to catch on the telescopic lens as it swooped past me in Caernarfon.

Some pics from that Wales trip

I visited North Wales a couple of weeks ago and here are some of the 360 photos I took. Thankfully I'm only putting up a handfull! I loved the contrast between new and old: the first pic was taken through the battlements of Caernarfon Castle of the big wheel in the neighbouring funfair.Penmaenmawr, the town where I stayed, from the top of the mountains.Some of the wild ponies living in the

Wither the intelligent debate on drugs legislation?

So, apparently the RSA report back in march was a "wake up call" according to our party leader, Sir Campbell, and since then Transform have also published a report on how we need to reform drug laws. We've also seen a media backlash against the ... Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Why are people only interested in referees decisions when it affects the "Big Four"

The fuss and furore over the odd decision by referee Rob Styles to award a penalty in the Liverpool versus Chelsea game on Sunday will only serve to fuel most supporters feelings that there is a bias in the Premier League against smaller teams. When referees give decisions that are equally or more appalling in games featuring smaller teams they are not suspended, like Rob Styles was, indeed, they seem to get a pat on the back and are told to carry on. Witness referee Lee Probert who last week failed to give Fulham a penalty and send off the ...

Worthless degrees?

This is an interesting issue. Are there ‘mickey-mouse’ degrees which are a waste of money? This is a case of government failure stemming from the fact that we cannot just say whether a degree is worth the money spent on it. Worth it to whom? The student? The community? Some nebulous concept of society? The taxpayers [...]

David Howarth up a 65m wind turbine

Focus on King's Hedges reports that David Howarth, the Lib Dem MP for Cambridge, and a local councillor climbed a 65m high wind turbine in Swaffham last weekend. It also says that, as part of the parliamentary committee scrutinising the draft Climate Change Bill ,David has been looking into renewable energy in the UK. And he was impressed: “What surprised me the most was how quiet the turbine was. From just 200 yards away the blades could no longer be heard and closer in much of the noise was masked by the rustling of leaves on neighbouring trees. “I was ...

Cameron fails to convince Tories of his electability

Writing in today's Independent, Michael Brown suggests that David Cameron has failed to even convince his own team that he can win the next General Election. The main evidence for this is the comparative inactivity of the Tory front bench with that of Labour during the summer of 1996: The totality of that Labour campaigning summer added up to a universal impression that Labour was already prepared for a general election at any time and was desperate for office. Labour's total commitment to the goal of winning was further underlined by the absence of outside interests on its front bench. ...

Conversions of Convenience

I was surprised to read that a Sikh family are willing to "convert" their daughter to Catholicism if it helps her to stay at her local Catholic school. The Church are surely right to be extremely concerned about the idea of parents making such a decision on behalf of their child without making the same commitment themselves. It seems almost hypocritical and certainly short-sighted to do so. I'm no psychologist, but the child could well struggle with her identity in years to come. We are not talking about changing Christian denomination or simply becoming less "lapsed", but a change to ...

Campbell calls on PM to change strategy

Last week, Ming Campbell wrote to the Prime Minister calling for an urgent review of the Government’s military strategies. He wrote: Dear Prime Minister, It is now urgently necessary for a reappraisal of government strategy in relation to Iraq and Afghanistan. The current level of British casualties is unacceptable. In the case of Iraq, what is being achieved by the continuing British presence? Our troops are severely restricted in what they can do and they are subject to unreasonable risks. There is now a clear recognition that the objectives of their mission cannot be achieved. It is nearly a year ...

Free care parcels to troops welcome

Responding to the Royal Mail’s announcement that families will soon be able to send care parcels free of charge to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ming Campbell said: “I am pleased that families can now send care parcels free of charge to their loved ones serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. This small step may make an enormous difference to the morale of those fighting in these difficult deployments. “The Ministry of Defence must now work with the Royal Mail to ensure that the free parcel service is maintained after Christmas.”

Brown must listen to his generals

Commenting on senior military commanders’ advice to the Government to withdraw troops from south-east Iraq without further delay, as reported in The Independent on Sunday, Liberal Democrat Leader Ming Campbell said: “Gordon Brown must listen to his generals in Iraq and set a target date for withdrawal. The number of British deaths and casualties is unacceptable. “We have a moral obligation to the brave young men and women fighting in Iraq and to the British people to reappraise our strategy and start the drawdown of troops.”

"Non-Courses"

The age-old debate about which university courses are worthy of public funding has been re-ignited by the Taxpayers' Alliance. But for the first time, I've realised that there are two antagonistic viewpoints among those critical of the current state of higher education. On the one hand, there are those who complain that the academic rigour of a university degree has been watered down in favour of more practical options. On the other, there are those who feel that some degree courses are too academic to be of any practical use to society. If we aimed to satisfy those two extremes, ...

WAS DAVE OUT OF THE COUNTRY AGAIN WHEN THE NHS REPORT WAS WRITTEN?

A report on the Today programme this morning carried further news of the Tories’ ‘saving the NHS’ debacle. It highlighted the supposed plight of a local hospital, the Horton in Banbury, Oxfordshire which, far from having maternity and A&E services reduced, is seeing A&E increased in size. This is one of the more impressive cock-ups since the Horton covers part of David Cameron’s Witney constituency. Is he aware of nothing his party is doing? There is no question that NHS services are under pressure in Oxfordshire, which is one of the lowest funded areas in the country per head but ...

JAMES NAUGHTIE IS AN APPALLING EMBARRASSMENT TO RADIO JOURNALISM

On the same subject, why is James Naughtie allowed to remain on national radio when he is the most abysmal presenter on earth? His ability to make every question last twice as long as the answers, to ask the same thing over and over again while ‘cleverly’ rephrasing it and his inability to listen to what is being said in response to his questions is quite astounding. Something must be done, surely.

Larkin About

Guido Fawkes expresses a little sorrow at the forthcoming announcement of the retirement of John Prescott, Member for Hull East, who as well bashing out some memoirs, is representing us in Europe. I wonder… was Prezza actually Guido’s Member of Parliament when he was “a streaked-haired FCS activist from Humberside College”?

MEP found guilty of fraud charges

Ashley Mote MEP (South East England) has been found guilty of 17 counts fraud after being accused of dishonestly obtaining more than £70,000 in housing benefit, council tax relief and income support.

Whatever happened to the Stop Press space in newspapers?

It's just an idle question. I used to be "newspaper monitor" at our family home when I was around ten years old. I used to run to the front door to pick up the bundle of papers delivered by the lad from our local newsagents. Thursday was particularly exciting because we got all sorts of magazines also delivered on that day - "Bumper Bundle" day. I started to take an interest in the look and

The Liberal Democrats' Federal Autumn Conference

The final agenda for the Liberal Democrats' Federal autumn conference, which is being held in Brighton from 15th to 20th September this year was published last week.

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Wednesday 22nd August 2007

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